Wealthion Macro Bites – Canada’s New Investment Summit Draws $120 Trillion in Assets Under Management

Yemeni officials confirmed Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, strengthening their control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key alternate to the Strait of Hormuz for passage of Saudi oil shipments.  Additionally, the vital Saudi east-west oil pipeline was attacked by several drones launched from Iraq on Thursday, forcing the Saudi energy ministry to shut the pipeline down for “precautionary measures.”  Consequently, Saudi Arabia requested postponement of a Monday meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab nations over a temporary shipping lane through the Strait.  Oil prices have once again surged on these developments.

The 18^th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi, India (9/12-9/13), chaired by Indian Prime Minister Modi and focused on the theme, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”  Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed establishing a BRICS AI open-source community to position Beijing as a central technology partner for the Global South and offer an alternative to Western closed-source models.  Xi also outlined a broader five-point plan for "Greater BRICS" cooperation aimed at boosting economic, trade, and technological ties across emerging economies.

The inaugural Canada Investment Summit (hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney in partnership with CPP Investments and PSP Investments) is taking place today and tomorrow in Toronto.  The high-stakes gathering assembles 300 global CEO’s, institutional investors, and asset managers with more than $120T AUM.  The summit objective is to stimulate over the next 5 years at least C$1T of new investment to build up Canada's economic resilience, catalyze nation-building infrastructure, and reinforce sectors like clean energy, critical minerals, AI, and advanced manufacturing. Stay tuned…

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (part of the World Bank Group’s Guarantee Platform) has issued $62.6M of guarantees to Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil to support investments in Angola’s Lobito Atlantic Railway and the modernization of the 1,300km of railway infrastructure in the Lobito Corridor, a trade route linking the DRC’s copper- and cobalt-rich Copperbelt region with international export markets.

Mercuria Energy Group and Glencore are mulling a deal for Venezuela’s state-owned Venalum aluminum smelter which has annual nameplate capacity of 430kt of primary aluminum but has been operating well below that level in recent years.